Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

Jingwei shook his head instinctively. "I can't!"

"You can't? Or you won't?"

"Both," Jingwei declared firmly, even as he felt his toes sweating in fear.

"If we were to break up, I would only accept it if it came from Xue Ning's own mouth, and even then, I would do anything to make her change her mind!"

Jingwei would probably go on his knees and hug her thighs until she gave in, or become a raging alcoholic if she didn't. Just thinking about them potentially breaking up made tears well up in his eyes, and he frantically blinked them away. He was a man, and he wasn't supposed to be crying so easily, especially not in front of his girlfriend's father.

"Please don't cry," Tai Cheng whispered, horrified as he saw one tear roll out from Jingwei's eyes. Now he felt like he kicked a puppy and abandoned it on the sidewalk.

How did he suddenly become the bad guy in every family drama? He was just looking out for his daughter!

"I'm not crying Uncle! I'm just allergic to… something," Jingwei ended lamely, quickly wiping his eyes dry.

He cleared his throat and stood up straight, meeting Tai Cheng's eyes evenly. Tai Cheng marvelled at the sudden switch; gone was the nervous crying wreck, the poor puppy that he kicked and abandoned. It was replaced by a man that wasn't taking no for an answer. The difference gave him whiplash!

His daughter had tangled with a dangerous man! If he was half as possessive as Sun Haowei, he'd advise her to run for the hills.

"Uncle, while I respect you a lot, I won't break up with her just because you say so. I said this earlier, and I meant every word - I will only break up if Xue Ning wants it, and that is if she doesn't love me anymore, if I can make her happier with my absence than my presence. Otherwise, I will never leave her side!"

The last words of Jingwei's impassioned speech echoed in the empty kitchen. Tai Cheng felt goosebumps form on his arms.

"Uncle, I will not change my mind, even if you decide to chop me up into minced meat using that cleaver in the corner." Jingwei added, his eyes darting to the knives neatly arranged in the corner of the kitchen.

"Rest assured, I do not use kitchen knives to stab people. They make other knives for that," Tai Cheng said. One said knife was under his bed, just in case.

"Sun Jingwei, while your devotion to my daughter is awe-inspiring, I still cannot find it in myself to accept you. If you were an ordinary man from an ordinary family, I would have no problems whatsoever. But you're not."

It was obvious, even to an untrained eye - Sun Jingwei wasn't a normal person, in all senses of the word. He had grown up with the world at his fingertips, and Tai Cheng knew better than anyone how it could shape a man.

"You are Sun Haowei's youngest son. Wherever you go, you will have numerous eyes on you. You are a magnet for trouble. I cannot have you around my daughter!"

Jingwei chuckled, but there was not much mirth in it.

Tai Cheng slammed a hand on the table. "What's so funny? I'm not joking!"

Jingwei straightened up. "I know Uncle. I wasn't making fun of you. I just think that you and my Dad have a lot in common."

Tai Cheng's eyebrow twitched.

"So Sun Haowei also rejected your union? And you're still persisting?"

"Well, I wasn't going to give up," Jingwei said, shrugging sheepishly. "We had an argument over that. He tried to get us to break up and I refused. We argued, and it caused his heart attack."

Jingwei watched the incredulous expression on Li Tai Cheng's face, the way his jowls slackened at the shock, deepening his laugh lines. The dim kitchen light illuminated the strands of grey at his temples.

Come to think of it, Li Tai Cheng was also quite old too!

"Please don't have a heart attack, Uncle." Jingwei hurriedly said, watching him carefully for signs of distress. "Do you feel ill? Do you need to sit down? Oh god, if you die here, Xue Ning is going to break up with me!"

"No, I don't need to sit down!" Tai Cheng burst out, waving his concern away. "Your relationship caused your father to have a heart attack and you're still together?"

Jingwei hastily reassured him. "Don't worry! I don't blame Xue Ning for it at all. My father was very rude towards her, but he will definitely change his mind when he wakes up from his coma since Xue Ning saved his life!"

"Jingwei," Tai Cheng began, rubbing his temples. "From what I hear of your father, he's not even good to you. How can he be good to my precious daughter?"

"Uncle, he's not good to me because I'm a useless son," Jingwei said without any hesitation. "But no matter how useless I am, I will never let Xue Ning be bullied by him!"

"Like he can bully my daughter, Yue Niang will kill him," Tai Cheng muttered to himself, rubbing his temples. He needed to re-strategize. Jingwei's own father having a heart attack couldn't break them up! Even if he had a stroke right now, it might not work either.

Hopefully, Yue Niang had better luck convincing their daughter!

=====

Meanwhile, an entirely different conversation was happening back in Xue Ning's room.

"Now you have to get married." Yue Niang declared. "I don't care how much he claims to love you, if the ring is not on your finger, it's not a done deal! Make sure to get a prenup too - in the case of divorce, you should make sure to get half his assets."

"Mom! Why do I need to marry him? I'm still young! And we haven't been dating that long," Xue Ning complained as she sat on her bed, pointedly avoiding the wet patches covered by her duvet.

"And you still slept with him?" Her mother raised a judgemental eyebrow. Xue Ning spluttered, finding it hard to refute her point. "Besides, I'm sure Jingwei has no qualms about marrying you right this instant if he could. That man is so in love with you - and it would be stupid of you to not take advantage of it while it lasts!"

Yue Niang knew how infatuation could blind a man, causing him to make reckless decisions. Yet infatuation was never permanent, puppy love would always run its course, leaving behind the soldering embers of a fierce love affair.

There was a reason why honeymoon periods in marriage never lasted more than a year - and she did not trust Sun Jingwei to put in the backbreaking commitment needed to sustain a relationship once the high was over.

That man's reputation as a playboy wasn't something that could be built in a day!

In the end, her daughter would be left with nothing but a broken heart.

Yue Niang couldn't do anything about that, but she could make sure that her daughter could sob at the back of a BMW rather than cry at the back of a bicycle!

Also, with her daughter married to Sun Jingwei, she wouldn't need to worry about her being a bodyguard! Sun Jingwei definitely wasn't going to let her run off and put her life in danger. Yue Niang could then rest easy knowing that her only daughter was safe and pampered to the skies by a devoted husband.

And if he stopped being devoted, she'd have half his estate.

Pity her daughter wasn't understanding her point.

"Marriage is a big deal," Xue Ning said instead, crossing her arms as her face flushed at the thought of it. A real marriage, with a real wedding, for her and Jingwei. Her heart raced, but she didn't know if it was from excitement or trepidation.

"We can wait for years. There's still time."

"No, get married now. As soon as possible. Get half of his assets." Yue Niang said firmly. "From what I hear about Jingwei, that man seems to be either ridiculously accident-prone or a magnet for trouble! Better marry him before he dies by accident!"

Also, there was a high chance of divorce once Xue Ning realised married life wasn't a bed of roses. Then she would naturally be out of Sun Jingwei's life, and a lot richer for it too.

"Mom! Why are you cursing him!" Xue Ning lamented in dismay. "I'm not marrying him to get his money in case he dies. I'm not a gold digger!"

"It's not gold digging if the gold voluntarily walked up and deposited itself on your lap." Yue Niang retorted. "I'm just trying to look out for your future!"

"No thanks," Xue Ning scoffed, shaking her head. "I'll only marry him this early if he ends up knocking me up, and that's not happening anytime soon!"

=====

OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT…

"Sir, is this the place we're supposed to target?" A man clad in black asked through his ski mask, casting a wary look at the restaurant. "It doesn't look like our usual missions. Are you sure the youngest Sun is actually here?"